Printable View
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares
Notwithstanding what Windsock said about calculating from satellite photos, I still think that you'd need a site inspection. The height of the trees to the North would be a relevant issue and may not be discernible from the satellite photo.
And a lot of houses deliberately put panels facing West so not having complete North exposure isn't a deal breaker.
Discussion of shading:
Partial shading and solar panel arrays - Solar Choice
Yep, accents can be a problem for me too. I have a hearing problem. If I don't hear something I will ask for a repeat. If that doesn't work I will ask for an explanatory email.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares
Watch out for the drongo cowboy installer winging it to scam you out of thousands on the basis of them sounding suitable. I have seen such cowboys in action and it brings the industry into disrepute when a customer believes their hype and ends up with installed technology ill-suited to the situation through lack of appreciation of the engineering and calculations involved in good renewable energy system design.
If you have the time entertain a few companies at your house, if it is anything like Queensland there is no shortage to choose from.
Steer clear of the cheap installs offered on TV.
We settled with a company that was far from the cheapest....the sales guy wasn’t pushy, and was really good at explaining it all.
If you have a tiles roof, it ls worth getting it checked and cracked tiles replaced prior to solar being installed.....
I found out AFTER our first system was installed that the company and their gear were shonky. The first inverter failed and replaced under warranty about a month before they went into receivership. When the second failed. I managed to get one off ebay. When it failed I couldn’t find anyone who would repair it.
You need to find a supplier who will be there when your system fails. That might mean BP or AGL, etc. The warranty is only as good as the supplier:
Its is worth looking at your house on google earth. You can see shading impact on it. One of my neighbors gets 80% less free power from a similar sized system to whats on my roof. I am on the side of a hill and loose sunlight about 25 minutes before my work system. That's a minor issue. My neighbors is in the valley and get light much later and looses it earler and trees reduce it significantly for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares
Trees and major shading may make solar a very marginal option.
Lunch Google Earth and search for your address.
Google Earth
It's good the company checked the satellite image, this is common practice by energy companies and local councils. I assume they would also do a site inspection. If there's a problem you would want to know, surely?
In our case the site inspection showed shadows from trees could be a problem, but moving the panels higher on the roof peak and on elevated frames would avoid most of the problem.
Keep in mind that the big advertisers on TV may be cutting costs by using lower quality panels.
We went with a small local installer who uses RCS brand panels, which some research found to be a good brand.
Incidentally, micro-inverters are more expensive and complicated. Our RCS are in two sections so if one half is shaded the other half still works.
North is not the only option. Some people put some panels facing west to get late afternoon sun.
Your local grid company may limit the maximum amount of solar power that can be put back into the grid. An installer should know.
Check the size of the wire connecting the house to the grid. If it is too thin it can cause wastage and you may not get the full rebate on the solar you generate. Ours was only 6mm thick and we had it replaced with a 26mm wire.
The inverter is likely to fail sooner than the panels, which is why the warranty on the inverter will be shorter. Do some research on inverters to get a good one. Ours is Sungrow.
We found useful information on this site:
Solar Matters | Off-grid, Storage, Panel Clean, Solar Maintenance, Victron Shop, Community
Hope that's helpful.
Here is your sun path diagram for Tecoma, Vic (as per your forum location). If you are in a very different location let me kow and I can generate the diagram for that location. Y-axis is the elevation angle of the sun path. X-axis is the azimuth angle of the sun path with 0 being true or solar north (if using a magnetic compass make sure any magnetic declination is accounted for).
Attachment 166229
If you do not already have one, download and use an inclinometer app on a phone to assess the angle of the tops of your trees and use this angle against your sun path diagram to estimate how high the tree is in relation to the sun path. Be sure to account for differences in height between where you take the angle reading and where the potential solar array could sit.
Alternatively, I also use an app called sun surveyor.
Sun Surveyor (Sun & Moon) on the App Store
Sun Surveyor: Your personal guide to the Sun and Moon - for iOS and Android.
Sun Surveyor (Sun & Moon) – Apps on Google Play
I use the paid android version (approx NZD16) from google play (links above). The paid version uses your phone camera to 'see' what you see and overlays the sun path over that in an augmented reality type view. You can then move your camera around your back yard and 'see' sun paths and ID potential shading elements for yourself. You can 'dial up' selected dates of the year to see again where the solar path is in the seasons and relative to the view field. Takes time to learn to use it but is a very useful assessment tool for solar access. I use it at every site I assess.
I realise you accessing your roof area may be limited but if someone can actually place themselves in the potential position of the array physically on the roof, they can use the app to take photos of the solar access with the sun path overlaid in the photo.
This app has a lot of other very useful tools to give you a greater understanding of solar geometry in everyday lives.
I hope this helps. The more you understand the solar access the more you will be able to discuss with anyone doing a site visit.
Mario, get companies to do a site inspection, if they don't jump on your roof with a SunEye and plot the sun path and show any shading issues, then don't bother with them. Companies that are lookimg via google, are just using near maps or whatever program to see how many panels they can fit on your roof, and for obvious shading.
While there are some sensible useful reply's to Mario's question, it may be worthwhile if some of you bother to read the QUESTION!Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares
As far as I know he does not have a helicopter, OR some other means of levitation for using some phone "app" designed for professional use, to take readings from the roof!
Also, as far as I am concerned, he is completely justified in commenting about some "person" of what ever persuasion or creed, calling him that cannot speak clear and PLAIN English! Maybe she is moonlighting from the ABC!
Rant over!
